CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 038 GET OUT OF HERE

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Rural areas always eat early and go to bed early. Now in mid-September, with over half a month until the harvest next month, Qingyun Team’s households usually have dinner around four o’clock. After dinner, those who love to visit others do, while those who don’t keep their doors firmly shut.

In the Lin Family, Mrs. Lin had worked too hard in her earlier years and generally went to sleep shortly after dinner. It’d be no earlier than ten o’clock the next day before anyone looked for her because she had to gather baskets of pig feed early every morning before she could even eat breakfast.

It definitely wouldn’t be until eleven or twelve o’clock the next day that Mrs. Lin would notice her absence.

As Lin Aiguo was a well-known bachelor in the village, he would gather with other bachelors in the evening for small bets—a leisure activity to pass the time for this group of men deemed undesirable for marriage.

Because the bets were small and it was among familiar people, they were just for a bit of fun to pass the long nights. How else would these men, considered third class disabled, spend their time?

Usually, as long as it wasn’t the busy farming season, there were always people in the bachelor group. Lin Aiguo was a regular, known for his punctuality.

Lin Aimei took advantage of her irresponsible brother and mother, who wouldn’t notice her missing in a short period of time, daringly seeking out Zhang Dongliang.

The sky was now dark; Zhang Dongliang took advantage of his mother’s bath time to sneak into his parents’ room. He searched the usual spot where his mother kept her silver, finding the 300 coins given by Xie Jingchen and even took half of the little over sixty coins available at home. After finding the household registration book, he quickly slipped back to his room.

He knew his mother’s temperament. Now as it was dark, after his mother finished her bath, they would try to save a bit of the silver by not using kerosene, especially since his father would be home soon. She surely wouldn’t check the secret spot for storing the silver in front of his father.

So, the earliest she could notice the missing silver would be tomorrow!

Zhang Dongliang and Lin Aimei took advantage of their family members’ habits and nature. After spending half the night in intimate embrace, they got up around four o’clock, stealthily left the Zhang Family and Shanglin Village while avoiding areas with dogs.

When they reached the town, it was nearly seven o’clock; after a quick bite of noodle soup, they headed straight to the civil affairs office. With household registration books and IDs in hand, proving they were lower middle class, they swore in front of the staff to marry voluntarily and naturally obtained their marriage certificate.

After acquiring the marriage certificate, they asked a fellow villager from Shanglin Village to wrap their registration books in oil paper for safe transport and carrying only the newly separated book with just their names, they took the first bus towards the county town.

At this time, societal norms were more open, and the government had relaxed policies, allowing a portion of the rural population to seek work or engage in small businesses to prosper.

The political and economic conditions of this era, relatively advanced by about ten years from 1988, encouraged Lin Aimei to coax Zhang Dongliang into eloping.

Mrs. Lin didn’t see her young daughter by twelve o’clock and started feeling something was off, while Lin Aiguo, who had overslept, was alarmed by his mother’s panic and then realized that Lin Aimei really had run off with their household registration book!

Immediately, Lin Aiguo, accompanied by Mrs. Lin, went straight to the Zhang Family.

This was the moment Lin Zhaodi, seeing that Zhang Zhiguo was finally not at home, considered the sudden appearance of 300 big silver coins at home and felt a rush of excitement. Meanwhile, her first and second daughters almost simultaneously arrived at their mother’s house. Zhang Yunni and Zhang Baonni, both shrewd, engaged in a non-verbal showdown under their mother’s gaze and reached a peaceful agreement.

Hearing both daughters crying about their intolerable lives and asking for her help, Lin Zhaodi, having just gotten the silver and with some surplus grain, genuinely loved her daughters and immediately agreed, giving each of them a fair share of thirty yuan.

Thirty yuan wasn’t insignificant; in the rural areas, it would take three to four months to save that much!

Although both Yuni and Baoni were not satisfied with the amount of silver, they still expressed gratitude to their mother for her willingness to help.

Regrettably, their hopes were dashed the next moment.

"Damn it!" After searching the house three times, Lin Zhaodi finally discovered that all three secret hiding spots for her silver had been tampered with!

The house no longer held the 300 big silver coins, and of the last remaining sixty big silver coins, only thirty remained!

The only person who knew where she hid the silver was her beloved son, Dongliang!

Zhang Yunni and Zhang Baonni, who had been instructed to wait outside, secretly pouted, but upon hearing their mother’s sudden loud curses, both stiffened and asked, "Mom, what happened?"

If they didn’t know their mother’s temperament, they would have been anxious enough to tear down the rough cloth curtain at the door.

However, before they could act, Lin Zhaodi abruptly flung open the door curtain and rushed into her son Dongliang’s east chamber!

With a crash, Lin Zhaodi pushed the rough door panel, and the room door, which was only slightly ajar, forcefully struck the yellow mud wall.

The sudden noise of the door panel striking startled Lin Zhaodi herself quite a bit!

Her eyes narrowed, and in the simple room, aside from the empty bed, there was only a wardrobe and a small table.

There was no sign of anyone in the room!

Zhang Yunni and Zhang Baonni, nervous behind their old mother, seeing their brother’s room emptied as if looted, Zhang Baonni exclaimed, "Oh my, has Dongliang’s place been cleared out?"

It was no wonder Zhang Baonni was shocked; since Dongliang was preparing to get married, as the only male of the Zhang Family, Lin Zhaodi had prepared a brand new thick cotton quilt for him, a rare big red one at that!

For this red ’joy quilt’, Zhang Baonni had been quite annoyed for a long time since her marriage was so rushed that she hardly had any fine items, all were just makeshift. If it wasn’t for the gold ring from her natal home, she would have been embarrassed!

Among it all, she had thought about this new red cotton quilt but was refused by Lin Zhaodi. Her elderly mother, no matter how much she loved her daughter, still favored her son more!

However, before the three women could come to a conclusion, they heard sharp curses from outside the courtyard. When Lin Zhaodi heard that familiar voice, her heart sank at once, not caring that her son had run off with the silver, but first had to deal with the approaching Lin Family.

"Damn it, Lin Zhaodi, Zhang Zhiguo, come out!" As soon as Lin Aiguo heard his old mother say his sister had run off with the household registry, he immediately thought of Dongliang, and pulling Mrs. Lin, went straight to the Zhang Family.

Upon reaching the big courtyard and seeing the half-closed gate, he kicked it open with a bang, and the courtyard door swung open.

Lin Aiguo’s dark greasy face, deep black eye bags, greasy hair shining under the sun made him particularly noticeable, and his stooped body lessened his aura.

Seeing Lin Zhaodi and her daughters rush out, he threw the broomstick in his hand with force in front of them, and shouted loudly: "Bring Dongliang out, hand over my sister!"